Abstract
Ecological slope protection is of great importance for preventing the water and soil loss on bare slopes, improving the ecological environment, and realizing the sustainable ecosystem development. The root-soil composite slope consisting of homogenous soil mass and oleander root system was taken as the study object. Based on the mechanics principle of soil reinforcement by roots in ecological slope protection, the influences of the lateral root quantity of plants and included angle between main root and lateral root on the slope protection were investigated via the finite element (FE) software ABAQUS. The simulation results show that the larger the quantity of lateral roots, the more obvious the displacement reduction of the soil mass on the slope surface will be. The slope protection effect varies with the root morphology, the included angle between main root and lateral root is an important factor influencing the slope protection effect of plants, and the slope protection effect at included angle of 30° is apparently superior to that at 90°. The research results can provide a theoretical support for the plant selection in the ecological slope protection.
Highlights
In recent years, all kinds of engineering construction activities have been booming, such as expressway and railway engineering, port engineering, energy development and utilization engineering, mineral resource mining, etc., These engineering construction activities will unavoidably form many bare rocky slopes, which destruct the vegetations and soil, damage the ecological landscapes and give rise to water and soil loss, and induce geological disasters like collapse, landslide and debris flow [1] [2].With the continuously deepening researches on slope engineering, various slope protection methods have been proposed, such as slope-cutting unloading, slope foot pressing, slope surface protection, slide-resistant piles, anchor bolt, hole reinforcement, water drainage, barricade, comprehensive reinforcement method, etc. [3]
Du G Q [12] studied the slope protection mechanism of plants, and the results showed that the plant roots could effectively strengthen the soil stability on the slope
In order to explore the influence of the oleander roots on the slope protection, a finite element numerical simulation was carried out for the plant-free slope and plant-covered slope, and the influences of the roots with different morphologies on the soil displacement field on the slope surface were studied
Summary
All kinds of engineering construction activities have been booming, such as expressway and railway engineering, port engineering, energy development and utilization engineering, mineral resource mining, etc., These engineering construction activities will unavoidably form many bare rocky slopes, which destruct the vegetations and soil, damage the ecological landscapes and give rise to water and soil loss, and induce geological disasters like collapse, landslide and debris flow [1] [2]. The slope protection by plant roots has aroused extensive attention by virtue of simple construction, environmentally friendly characteristic and excellent reinforcing effect on shallow slope [8] [9]. Slope reinforcement has been realized through vegetation recovery in some countries and regions [10], and numerous scholars have conducted a lot of research work according to the reinforcement mechanism of plant roots. Du G Q [12] studied the slope protection mechanism of plants, and the results showed that the plant roots could effectively strengthen the soil stability on the slope. The included angle between main root and lateral root was set as 30° and 90° (Figure 4)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
